Giacomo Garavaglia’s ninth position at the Nazionale: “I have no words to express this feeling”

Campionato italiano proffesionisti 2020
Gara in línea: Bassano del Grappa-Cittadella, 235,7 km

The Lombard Giacomo Garavaglia made an outstanding participation in the road race of the Italian Championships this Sunday by finishing the final ninth place in a race in which he won his second national title, Giacomo Nizzolo. This ninth place was even more meritorious due to the fact that the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team came with only two riders.

In a race of resistance and elimination Garavaglia was one of the thirteen members of the group that was formed in the plain after the last step of the ascent to La Rosina. Previously, very well supported by Riccardo Verza, he had been able to ride at all times within the group of illustrious names while the race was led by a numerous breakaway that, lap by lap, was losing members.

In the penultimate pass through La Rosina Garavaglia he began to show himself as one of the strongest of the day, although before the last pass there was still the short but narrow and steep climb up the wall of La Tisa. From the examination of the medieval path Garavaglia came out with an outstanding, very close to the seven cyclists who had stood out on their ramps up to 16%.

“Right now I have no words to express the joy I feel. I am very, very happy,” Garavaglia admitted after the race. “I don’t think I’ve ever done a race over 200 kilometers before. It was very motivating to see me there all the time. It was clear to me that I had to keep my legs as fresh as possible for the climb to La Tisa, which is very steep and narrow, and especially for the last pass through La Rosina. There have been a lot of accelerations, but we had to be calm because there was some ground to be able to get there and we could understand each other to reach the head of the race. If I was able to have good legs, it was largely because of my team-mate Riccardo. At the start there were only two of us and the truth is that Riccardo did a job as if he had ten. It was spectacular. This result makes me face the next races with a lot of optimism”.

Dario Andriotto, director of the Kometa-Xstra Cycling Team in the race: “A magnificent result for our team. Giacomo is in really good shape and we could already see it in the first stage of the last Tour de l’Ain. In a race like this, the work of the team is always important and we started with the handicap of only starting with two riders, Giacomo and Riccardo. Verza has been formidable in supporting Giacomo until the race was launched. From then on, Giacomo has run with a lot of intelligence, always keeping his strength without losing sight of the movements at the head of the race. In the last pass by La Rosina he did not get caught up in the accelerations, he went at his own pace to connect later. For many Giacomo will have been a pleasant surprise today, for us it is another step in his evolution”.

? Stefania Paluello / Capturas RAI

(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)